Snow Day

I could not believe it before Christmas when schools in the UK were closed for 'Snow Days'. In all my 35 years of being either a student, parent or teacher this has NEVER happened to me. I missed out on 3 days off and have to admit I was gutted. Since we arrived in NY State in August people have been warning us about how cold it will get and how much snow there will be. Up till today there have been 2 occasions when we possibly could have had a snow day but one was in the holidays and one was a Saturday. Today FINALLY it has happened. And it was wonderful. I was night-before-Christmas excited last night and kept waking in the night to check the weather and dreaming there was no snow. At 5 am I couldn't wait any longer and turned on YNN (Your News Now!). There it was across the bottom of the screen, Schenectady School District....CLOSED. I went straight back to sleep. Today has been spent playing in the snow with Sian, snoozing, watching Law and Order SVU, cleaning and generally being ecstatic with happiness. This cozy little condo is a lovely place to be when it is cold outside! The decision to close schools rests with the Superintendent of the school district. I can't think of an equivalent person in Hull but I am sure whoever it was would find it very difficult to make a decision like that,which would close every Primary and Secondary in Hull. In England when bad weather causes schools to close people complain like crazy. Over here it seems to be understood that schools are there to EDUCATE children not to babysit them while the parents are at work / in the pub. Why should anyone, child or teacher, put their life at risk to travel somewhere when it is not essential? Snow days are built in to the school year so no learning is missed. Such a sensible way to go on.

Fame At Last!!

Schenectady School District shot this video at the end of last year. It will be posted on the main school district homepage and also will be featured on public access tv. I think they have done an excellent job, it is a great video and will be a lovely reminder of my time here. I have had a great week this week. Nothing new or different has happened but I have had a couple of moments this week where i felt....it's difficult to explain. Normal. Relaxed. At home. None of these cover it but they all come close. I think I am finally 'settling down'. One of the problems I found when I got here was the huge expectations I had of the US. Whoever does their PR should get a big raise!! I think I am now letting go of my expectations and starting to enjoy the 'real' America.

Happy New Year

We celebrated New Year's Eve with a night in, just the 3 of us (OK I admit it, we had a big fat ZERO invitations for alternative ways to spent the evening!) Anyway we did not let that spoil the fun and tried to celebrate BOTH New Years Eve's so had one at 7pm (UK midnight) and the American one at actual midnight! Having seen the big sparkly ball being prepared in Times Square a few days before I was interested to see the drop but DISASTER! After spending an hour watching Ryan Seacrest present the NYE show, midnight came and there were shots of fireworks and people kissing but NO BALL DROP!!!! Very weird, I wonder why it wasn't televised. Happy New Year everyone. May 2011 bring you all your heart desires!

All Good Things To Those Who Wait.

Sian got mainly $$$ for Christmas and we planned to go down to NYC so she could get some clothes from Topshop which has only one branch in the whole of USA. We were due to travel down with a local coach company who were doing 'buy-one-get-one-half-price' deals. Of course you will have guessed by now that New York was hit -the night before we were due to go- with the worst snow so far this winter. The next morning the local news channel was telling everyone to stay at home if they could and that people should not try to travel on the thruway (the motorway to NYC). So i decided we should stay at home, I actually presumed the company would cancel the trip - but this was not the case. Sian was so good about it but I was devastated! This exchange experience brings fabulous opportunities but obviously not EVERY day! From Christmas day until New Years day we were very much left to our own devices and although we had a lovely Christmas together I missed all the Christmas drinks and parties we would have been enjoying with our friends and family in the UK. I really was excited about NYC as it was something fabulous that I couldn't have possibly done had we not have come to the US. Anyway after much crying and many phone calls we managed to get another trip organised (for another payment) 2 days later. The snow in New York had been cleared from the streets and by snow ploughs and deposited in HUGE piles on the pavement. This made crossing the road perilous! We had a fantastic and magical day, Sian spent a good couple of hours in Topshop, we visited Times Square and saw the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. I REALLY am a city girl and do miss living in a city so much! As a happy postscript to this blog, the travel company have offered vouchers to make up for the double payment. I bet the original trip didn't get even halfway to NY in all the snow! No trips planned till February now so I need to start saving up!

Bloody Snowmen.

So the last couple of weeks at work have been very strange. Apart from having to work until 3:30 on the day before Christmas Eve (like some sort of Bob Cratchit), I found it very difficult to get my head round the way schools in NY must not do anything religious. In England, the holiday is Christmas and it is traditional that religion plays a large part, even for people who are not religious. There is is part of my job to teach the children the true meaning of Christmas although it is entirely up to them to believe it or not. It made me quite sad actually not to be doing that over here and I found it hard to get into the Festive Spirit! In the US the snowman seems to reign supreme, he is the overwhelming face of 'The Holiday Season'. I suspect this is because snowmen are wintery without being linked to any particular religion. I am so not getting into a religious debate but I feel that seeing people celebrate the customs of all the different religions in the world add to the rich diversity of life and help us to be more accepting of each others differences. I did however enjoy the American custom of the Holiday Vest (waistcoat). The photo above shows me and my wonderful colleagues all dressed up on the last day!

Boxing Day

Day After Christmas. NOOOOOOOO. Someone has stolen Boxing Day.